You're The Only One Who Can
by RomitriIsMyMaximumMortalFlaw
Summary: Max is in trouble…big time. Her and the other members of her Flock are captured and taken back to Itex. Iggy is the only one left standing, but so are Max's kids. Iggy has to get them somewhere safe, and the kids know the way. The only question is if they will get the help they're looking for, or if Iggy's best friend will turn his back on them yet again? Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **You're The Only One Who Can

**Summary:** Max is in trouble…big time. Her and the other members of her Flock are captured and taken back to Itex. Iggy is the only one left standing, but so are Max's kids. Iggy has to get them somewhere safe, and the kids know the way. The only question is if they will get the help they're looking for, or if Iggy's best friend will turn his back on them yet again?

**Setting:** 8 years after_ Fang_. The other books never happened.

**Rating:** T for Vocal Profanities and just in case

**Genre:** Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Romance, Action/Adventure

**WARNING:** Story will switch point of view randomly. Just so you know.

**Max's POV**

_I hate Mondays,_ is the first thing I think when I get up in the morning. Specifically Monday mornings.

Depending on how long I slept the night before, I hate every other day, too. But Monday I loath with a strong and fiery passion. Why, you ask? Because it's the only day I don't go to work. And I know that seems like a good thing—not having to go to work and spend the day being lazy and watching _Friends_. But that's not how my Mondays go. Because I don't have to work and everyone else does, and because everyone is so busy the other 6 days of the week, Monday is the only day to clean. And because I am the only one home Monday… Yeah, you get the picture.

This first thing I do every morning is roll out of bed and get coffee. As I tread my way down the stairs, rubbing my eyes, I tripped over something hard and cursed at it as I made my way to the kitchen.

"'Morning, Ig," I grumbled, preparing a pot a coffee. He was at the stove, frying up eggs and bacon for everyone.

"Morning, Max. How was your trip?"

I turned and raised my brown, still squinting to see. "My trip…?" Then it clicked. I rolled my eyes at him, even though still—to this day—it was wasted on him. "You're an ass. You knew that toy was there, didn't you?"

He chuckled. "Tripped over it myself. Expect I had to quickly remember what the closeted thing to grab was. And that's the floor."

I bit back a laugh and finished setting up the coffee maker. I started getting down plates from the cabinet. "Where is everyone else?" I glanced at the clock on the microwave—6:45 am.

"Angel and Gazzy are waiting at the end of the driveway to get picked up for school." It's not that I didn't believe him, but I peeked out the kitchen window to see for myself. "You just missed Nudge. Said something about 'the chick that was supposed to restock the store decided to be sick today'. So she had to go in earlier than usual." He used air quotes and tried to sound like Nudge. "And Dylan went to pick up Sara for their date."

I nodded, setting the plates I had collected from the cabinets on the table. There were only four of us left at the house, which was normal.

"When does Sandy come to pick you up?"

He put more bacon on a plate lined with napkins that collected the grease. "In about a hour. So I figured I should make you and the kids breakfast first before I left. God knows you can't cook!" He laughed and I thumped him upside his head.

"Hey! it was a joke! Though not far from the truth."

I rolled my eyes. "We'll see how the twins think about your breakfast."

As I walked back up the stairs to the room with two sleeping 5-year-olds, he called after me, "Oh you know they love my cooking! You made them sick after making them PB&Js!"

I ignored him, though he was right. I had made the twins sick after making them lunch the Monday Iggy didn't leave anything in the fridge, and at the time I hadn't left like going out. Needless to say I gave them food poisoning by putting jelly and peanut butter between two pieces of bread. I don't know how that's possible, but that's how bad my cooking it.

I entered the dark room and flipped the light on, immediately making it a lot brighter than I thought it would—even I flinched.

"Rise and shine, kids!" I called, crossing the room to their bunk-bed. "We've got stuff to do today."

Slowly, the small lump under the blankets in the bottom bunk stirred, but the only thing that immersed from it was a little bare foot. I smiled and looked up at the top bunk where a head of light brown hair was showing over the railing.

"Wolfgang. Get up, buddy. Time to face a new day."

He yawned, looking down at me with his dark brown eyes. "Okay…okay…" Slowly, he dragged his body to the ladder and starting climbing down.

I sat on the bed that held the other 5-year-old. "Jo, you have to get up too, sweetie. Wolf will eat all of the bacon if you don't," I warned.

When even that didn't get her attention I quickly peeled back the blankets and surprised the little girl with a tickle attack—her favorite thing in the world. Just kidding. The blond haired girl started swarming around—thrashing her feet, waving her arms, slapping my hands away—trying and failing to away from my grasp. Her mouth was agape, her face scrunched up in a huge smile. The only thing missing was her squeals of laughter.

Jo Jo, short for Josephina, is mute. Not long after we brought them home we discovered that her vocal cords never developed fully. It was something that couldn't be helped, and other than that she's perfect. She my perfect little girl.

Yes, the twins are mine. They were a very unexpected gift, but I love them none-the-less. And despite the media being all over our asses, they think the twins are just two kids we found in an Itex facility we destroyed about 5 years ago. It was perfect because we dropped off the map for about nine months, and when we were "suddenly spotted in NYC"—aka we wanted to be spotted so we had an exuce to give the media the fate story—we told the people watching on TV that the babies were just more experiments. And the not surprising part was that I was going to take care of them and give them a home. I mean, I took care of five kids for a good portion of my life so far. What's two more, right?

Turns out babies are a lot of work. I didn't have a job for the longest time, having to spend 80% of mt time with two infants. Eventually I found a Personal Trainer job, but when I couldn't find the time to go to that job, they fired me. Whatever. I had the other three kids to help pay for expenses.

Nudge works at _Victoria Secret_, much to Iggy and Dylan's delight. She's there just about every day, making money mostly for herself, but she treats us to a dinner outing when she can.

Dylan works for a construction company. It's nothing special but his dedication to helping out around the house is something I just can't turn down. Dylan and I started not to see eye to eye after the twins were born. It wasn't anything bloody, but I think he started to (finally) realize that the "love" he felt for me was a program, not an actually emotion. But he still takes care of the kids and I appreciate that.

Iggy has a job as a Chiropractor. It sounds lame, and_ I _still think it is, but he's really good at it. It took a whole two years to get clients to trust a blind man to touch them, but he's really popular and is making a lot of money now. Money that he happily donates to the charity fund that is his family.

The Gasman—the kids at school call him Zephyr, just like back in the day—is a Senior in high school. He's graduating a year early, just like Nudge did. He's got a job at a gaming store (I think it's Game Expo, or something like that). He likes it there and get's to rent games every week for free, so long as he gets his homework done.

Angel doesn't have a job, and I'm perfectly fine with that. She may be growing up and I may have the twins now, but she's still my little Angel. She's ahead of all of the other students her age as well. She's only a year behind her brother and is making lots of friends. I know that's all she wanted—to go to school, meet new people, make friends; all of the things normal kids do. And I'm just happy she got what she wanted.

As for me, I got another job as a Personal Trainer. This one pays a little better than my first one, so it's helping us get by. But I'm only allowed to work specific days. Then when I realized that no one would be home to watch Wolfgang and Josephina, I told them I needed Mondays off. They agreed, but I had to trade Monday for Friday and Saturday. Ugh.

So basically my whole life is revolving around the kids and making sure there is always someone home to watch them. Mondays it's me because I'm the only one home. Tuesdays it's Nudge because the other manager wanted to work the middle of the week. Wednesdays it's Dylan and Nudge—Dylan only works part time and is home the last half of the week. Thursdays it's just Dylan, but I told him so long as she's here when the kids are awake, Sara (his girlfriend of 3 years) can come over. Fridays it's Iggy and Dylan's day. Iggy doesn't work on the weekends because there's too many people and not enough staff for him. And, obviously, the weekends there is usually always someone home. Even if everyone over 20 goes out during the day or even at night, Gazzy or Angel are there all day to watch the kids. And, finally, once everyone is home for the day, we all sit down and have dinner. Some of us get up too late or leave too early to have breakfast together, so dinner is when I get to hear about what my family—my Flock—did that day.

It's an endless circle of chaos but, hey, it's working.

I looked down at Jo Jo and smiled. "Are you ready for breakfast? Uncle Iggy made your favorite."

Despite how tired she seemed only a few minutes ago, a bright smile appeared on her face. _"__Eggs and bacon?__"_ she signed excitedly. Her brother's head snapped up as well, and I swore I saw him drool.

I nodded and barely had time to move out of the way as her and her brother scrambled out the door.

"Hey, Jo! Wait up!"

I heard Iggy yell something about a warning, but I didn't care. I got the twins out of bed. Some days that's the biggest challenge of them all.

The twins have a special bond with everyone. There bond with Iggy is through his food. But, then again, isn't that why everyone loves him? Dylan definitely has a bond with them He's with them through out most of the week days, and since he still has the brain of a teen, despite the fact that he looks 23-years-old, he plays with the two of them with Wolf's toy car collection. It's actually pretty adorable—the scene of them playing together, not Dylan. Their bond with Nudge was an instant one. She is Mother-Hen when I'm not around, spoiling them and loving them just as much as I do. She loves her days alone with the kids and enjoys hogging them to herself. The Gasman is the one that buys all those toy cars for Wolf. He even bought Jo Jo a pink Jeep toy car that she cherishes. Angel… Her relationship with that kids is a little rocky. Angel was always my baby and she thrived off of the attention I gave her. But when I turned that attention on the twins after they were born, she started to become distant. But she now she a little more mature about it and likes to play board games with them and occupy them when she can.

As soon as I was dressed for the day, deciding to shower after I was done getting all sweaty from cleaning, I joined the three of them in the dining room/kitchen area. There was still a small stack of bacon left and three eyes on my plate. Jo and Wolf were done, practically licking their lips.

"Alright, midgets!" I said, putting my hands on my hips, tuning into my Leader Mode. "We have things to do today. And by that I mean I do. So lets start out with showers."

Jo Jo frowned and Wolf groaned. "But, mommy…!"

I shook my head. "Ah, ah! No buts are welcome in this conversation—that means no complaints at all. You're covered in bacon grease and dirt from our flying practice yesterday." I pointed back toward the stairs. "March!"

Obediently, mainly because they didn't want to face my wrath, the two of them ran up the stairs to get there clothes. Wolf would most likely take the shower in the bathroom that connects both me and Nudge's bedrooms, and Jo Jo would take the bathroom in the first floor hall.

With them out of the room, I turned to Iggy, who was already facing me. He had a habit of creeping me out like that; when he's already "staring" at me when I turn around.

A smirk showed on his face. "So, it's been a month…" he said, leaving the last part open-ended. But I wasn't following.

I sat down in my chair and raised a brow at him. "A month since what?"

He took the chair next to me, smirk still well in place. "You know what I mean."

I sighed and picked up my fork, digging into my eggs. "Honestly, Iggy, just come out with it. I'm not in the mood for your games today."

As I ate my food, switching from eggs to bacon to toast and then back again, Iggy finished off the last of his food as well, munching on the last of his bacon strip. It was an uncomfortable few minutes of silence for me, though I'm sure that was Iggy's intention. I didn't know what he was talking about. It's been a month since…what? What was he referring to? Angel's "assigned" birthday was last month and Iggy's in next month, but I don't see what that has to do with anything. Angel always gets everything she asks for—to an exert, of course. Had I forgotten something?

Finally, he finished his food, picked up his plate and pushed his chair back to stand. I watched him go, curious as to why he hadn't answered my question yet. When he stopped in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the small dining room, he spoke up again. "You know, it's been a while since I've talked to Fang."

I felt my body tense automatically. It's not that I was still mad at Fang. I see the reasons why he left but that doesn't mean I like them. The Flock (obviously except Dylan) still keep some kind of contact with him, whether it be through his ever growing blog or they simply call him up or even send him an email. But I didn't like where this insinuation was heading. What was Iggy getting at?

He continued: "I mean, the last time we talked over the phone was a few months ago, but I'm curious as to how he's doing recently." He glanced over his shoulder, that damn smirk lighting up his face again. "You wouldn't happen to know how he's doing, would you?"

Now I felt like I was going to bring up everything that I had just swallowed. No. There was no way he knew…

I cleared my throat, fighting down the urge to panic and throw up. "Honestly, Iggy, if your curious why don't you just call him? It's not like we don't have his number."

Even I had Fang's number, though I swore to myself that I would use it strictly for emergencies only. That being the off chance that the Flock is in danger and it's something the government can't help me with. "When the government fails, we don't," Iggy always says. More or less that's true. But I hoped that I would never have to use that number for emergencies.

Iggy turned around, plate still in his hand. "I'm sorry, let me rephrase that statement: it's been a while since I've seen him_ in person_." His smile was long gone from his face, and I was so lucky he couldn't see the look of dread on him.

So…he knew.

I swallowed the last of my food and pushed my chair back with my legs as I stood, but I didn't move. I stayed there, hunched over the table with my hands on either side of my plate. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming my panicked heart.

"Iggy…" I paused, not sure how to approach this situation. I wasn't completely sure they knew my secret, but the others are obviously smarter than I thought they were.

"Yes…?" he said in a sing-on voice, but I could hear the seriousness in his voice without having to look up to see it on his face.

"I'm sorry," I said right off the bat. But saying that aloud had a bigger impact on my emotion train of thought that I expected. All of a sudden I couldn't form a coherent sentence. "I… It's hard… What I mean to say is—"

"Apology accepted." I looked up at my blind right-hand-man. "It's okay. We know you love him; we knew long before _you_ did. We understand why you go out for a couple of days to meet him. I just needed you to tell me that you were sorry, and that you knew what we knew. Those "business trips" you go on to "meet with the government" is bullshit, we know that." He shrugged. "You may be the only one that gets to see him, but that's what makes you happy. You've been keeping us alive and happy since I can remember, so by sealing our mouths shut and letting you go out every once and a while we're doing our part to try and make you happy."

I was speechless. So they've known about my meetings with Fang from the very beginning. That's 5 years of me not realizing what was going on behind the scenes and 5 years of me thinking I had them fooled. I seriously need to start giving them more credit.

I straightened up, grabbing my plate and walking toward the doorway he stood in. When I came to stand next to him, I said, "So…you're going to tell me I can't see him anymore, right? You're going to say that it's not fair and that I shouldn't be allowed to see him if you don't?"

Iggy smiled as gently as his gaze lingered in my direction. "We aren't that cruel to take your happiness away. Not when you need it this much. So, we'll keep portending we don't know if you stay happy. But you have to tell him we say hi the next time you see him. Deal?"

I know everyone missed Fang—once again excluding Dylan from that category—but, damn it, I loved him! I may not have realized it until after he was gone and it was too late but losing him hurt more than any other pain I've ever experienced in the past or will experience in the future. So to hear Iggy say all he wanted was for me to be happy was…amazing. And suddenly I felt happier than I ever did just knowing that.

I felt a real smile tug at my lips, one that was rare to see. (Too bad Iggy couldn't actually see it.) I reached over and took his plate from him. "Deal." He made his way back to the table to clear it. "And Ig?"

With his back still facing me, he turned his head in my direction to show he was listening.

"Thanks, for everything. For taking care of the kids and for…for not being angry."

He smiled again and nodded. "Anything for the Queen, Ms. Maximum Ride."

And the moment was over.

I rolled my eyes and headed into the kitchen, but the smile never left my face. And I was totally okay if it was stuck there for the rest of the day.

**What do you think? Good for the starter? I actually liked it. **

**And I'm warning you now that it will be a slow update. My classes are going to give me hell for a little while, so bare with me. **

**This chapter had a long intro, so I will keep the outro short. Keep in touch if you want to know what happens next!**

—**Romni**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next update. I said it would be up, but that it would take a while. My classes are kicking me in my ass right now, so I'm surprised that I got this up **_**at all**_**.**

**Thanks for giving the story a chance and I hope you like it so far. There's more to come, promise! (:**

**Max's POV**

Despite the fact that the attention span of a 5-year-old is very limited, when it comes to showers Josephina and Wolfgang are in and out of the shower within 10 minutes. That's how much they hated showers. If they were with me and the Flock when we were on the run—God forbid—they would have _loved_ feeling clean as much as I do.

With the kids fed and clean, it was time to help uncle Iggy with the dishes. I would kill him if he left me one more thing to do around the house. Even after all these years of knowing me you'd think he'd know better than to get under my skin. Guess not.

While they busied themselves with cleaning, I made myself another cup of coffee. Coffee is my life now. And, as it turns out, the cliche about people who don't get their coffee turn into jerks are true. I couldn't live in a house full of teens, kids, and crabby adults if I didn't have my coffee every morning. And I sometimes have to make a cup for myself at night when I get home, just for the attempt of staying awake and on my feet.

As I made my way toward the living room to turn the news on, there's a knock at the door. Now, I know this may seem pretty common, but it's really not for us. There are very few people that come knocking at our door. And none of them were due to show up today.

Iggy, as alert as I was, walked out from the kitchen. He looked left (toward me) and then right toward the door). I set my coffee on the coffee table in the living room and walked back toward the kitchen.

"Just a minute!" I called over my shoulder, just to buy me some time.

I took Iggy by the arm and dragged him back into the kitchen, looking out the window. You can't quite see anyone standing at the door, so I was going to have to answer it.

"Mommy, wha—"

"Shh!" I said a little harshly, putting my finger to my lips to emphasize my command. Wolf closed his mouth immediately.

I gathered the kids near me and spoke softly to Iggy, "When did you say Sandy was coming to get you?"

"Is that her? She's almost a half hour early. If anything she's always 15 minutes late."

Sandy is Iggy's co-worker. She works side-by-side with Iggy, introducing the client to the guy who's going to be adjusting them that day. Iggy only has about 4 years of schooling under his belt, but because of his sensitive touch he's become a Chiropractor genius. But Sandy has a bad sense of time and is always late no matter how hard she tries. In fact, there has never actually been on time in the last three years we've known her. For her to be so early out of nowhere is…concerning.

"I don't know, Ig. I can't see from here." I looked down at Josephina and Wolfgang, looking confused and started by my reaction. I wasn't going to put them in any kind of danger—not now, not ever.

And so…I made a decision.

"Take the kids up stairs and be ready to jump out your window that leads to the forest out back." I turned around, yanked open the pantry door, and pulled out the newly stocked emergency bags (E-bags) I had made for Jo Jo and Wolf a week ago. I handed them both one, still talking to Iggy. "Grab your E-bag and leave out that window, no matter what you hear. Don't you dare come back, do you understand me?"

I took Wolf's hand and put it in Iggy's right one; and then took Jo Jo's hand put her in his left one. The kids looked at me, both scared and confused. When Iggy didn't answer me, I took him by the shoulders and shook him awake, because I knew he was dreading what might be coming next.

"Iggy!" I said hastily in a hushed tone. "You will take the kids and leave town and you will not come back no matter what, do you understand? Do not answer the phone if it's me or anyone else. Only use your phone if absolutely necessary."

His blind gaze when from me to the direction of the impatient knocks on the door. "Max… You don't have to stay. You could just as easily come with us—you don't even know for sure if—"

"There isn't time to argue about it, Ig." I realized his shoulders and bent down to the kids, still talking to him. "It'll keep me sane knowing you guys make it out of this without…"

I trained off, but there wasn't any need to say it aloud: As long as they (Iggy and especially my babies) make it out of this without being taken to Itex.

There was another bang on the door, and this time it was louder. Wolf and Jo Jo jumped, startled. I quickly hugged the twins and kissed them both on the head. "Be safe. All of you. Do you remember the address I told you to memorize in case there was an emergency? I need you to take Uncle Iggy there. There's someone there that will help you and keep you safe."

I saw Josephina's lip quiver. Wolfgang had tears already forming in his eyes. "M-Mommy… I'm scared."

I nodded, fighting tears of my own. "Me, too, baby. Me, too." God, this was hard, leaving my babies behind. But I Would not let them get taken away. Not on my life. "I love you."

Finally, I ushered them up the stairs, the kids never letting go of Iggy's hands. "Go! Quickly!" I caught Iggy's worried glance just before the three of them disappeared into his room.

I took a deep breath and let one tear slip from my eye. _Good-bye for now. I __**will **__see you again. I swear it._

Just as I turned to the door, it burst open, pieces of wood flying everywhere. I out my arms up to defend my face; God knows how painful pulling slingers from one's face would be. A satisfied growl from the the doorway, and when I pulled my hands to look. I wasn't surprised what I saw, but that doesn't mean my body didn't stiffen and my blood didn't turn cold. Because all of that happened.

Erasers. Of course there would be Erasers; and they had their new Metallica friends, Fly Boys, behind them. They swarmed into my house, leaving next to no space for me to get through. Granted, there were only two Erasers and six Fly Boys, but over the last 6 years I've been a little out of practice of kicking Eraser ass. But that doesn't matter; they can take me, but I'm not going down without a fight.

_I have to buy Iggy some time. He has to get the twins away from here. _

It's going to be hard for him to fly solo (so to speak) on this trip. He normally always has someone to follow, but this time he has Jo Jo and Wolf following _him_. The kids don't know a lot about navigation like Me or Nudge but they know the address of the one person that can help.

The Eraser I kicked was pretty pissed that I had hit him, though it didn't look like I did any damage. He did some damage though—my foot was throbbing after that assault on his face and I lost my balance for a second. The other Eraser moved in, barring his teeth; thick drool dripped from his snarling lips. Ew. And because of the limited space the Fly Boys provided in my hallway, all I could do was go on the defensive. Why weren't the Fly Boys engaging? Was their autopilot turned off or something? They used to attack without holding back.

The Flock and I have been sparing as often as we can, but with this new life—the life we all wanted—started becoming more important we haven't been practicing much. And because of that little fact I was getting my ass handed to me. Sure, they were playing dirty, that's nothing new. But I couldn't necessarily hold my own when I was so outnumbered.

A couple blows to the head ensured a concussion; the snap in my hand registered as a broken wrist; the pain in my chest and blood on my lips suggested a broken rib and internal bleeding. They really weren't holding back. One more final blow to the back and I was down for the count—well, there was a count in a fair fight. I couldn't tap out of this one; they had my by the neck and dragged me out of my house before I could count to 3 in my head.

_That__'__s not the point,_ I reminded myself. I stopped resisting and let lead Eraser flip my limp body over his shoulder, mostly because I didn't have the strength any more. _As long as Iggy has time to get the kids as far away from here as possible. That__'__s all that matters now__…_

I don't quite remember what happened after that. All I felt was pain and annoyance that I was beaten so easily. I could only pray that Iggy, Jo Jo and Wolf got away. I'd rather die than allow my babies to fall into Itex's clutches.

I was barely conscious when I was thrown into a van—I couldn't only assume it was a van considering I flopped around like a fish from their crazy driving. The had bound my arms behind my back painfully, but my whole body was aching, so I ignored it.

_Pain is only a message._ I hadn't had to tell myself that in years. Too bad it brought only bad memories.

As I completely lost myself in the darkness, I thought about the other members of the Flock. I hoped they weren't captured too, though the chances were high. If they weren't expecting an attack at any time they wouldn't be prepared to defend themselves. I swore to them they would never go back there, and after living so long without encountering any sign of Erasers, I thought we had finally gotten away from them. But this is something that we can never truly run away from.

_I'd failed them._

Dylan…

Nudge…

Gazzy…

Angel…

Iggy…

_I'm so sorry._

Wolf and Jo Jo…my babies.

_Please… Please be okay…_

**Well, this one was shorter than the first, but the introductions are usually pretty long. This chapter wasn't as exciting in my opinion, but I would REALLY like to know what you think. **

**Max is in some real deep shit. Hope she makes it out of this…**

**Keep in touch to find out!**

—**Romni**


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